Over the ages, E. coli have developed ingenious means for deriving nutrients from scavanging and degradation. A currently ill-defined element of this degradative capacity can detoxify organophosphonic acids by cleaving the carbon to phosphorus bond which characterizes these molecules. The proposed research is designed to: 1. Define the organic chemistry exploited by E. coli in their degradation of phosphonic acids. 2. Isolate the enzyme(s) which catalyze the observed degradation. 3. Identify the genes involved in degradation of phosphonic acids by E. coli. By forging together organic chemistry, enzymology and molecular biology, this study seeks a mechanism-based understanding of naturally occurring detoxification.